Today, a flight from 9 Squadron RNAS were out on a high altitude offensive patrol in their Sopwith Camels when they came across an enemy patrol. The Flight Commander Flight Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Arthur William Wood attacked three Albatross Scouts. The rearmost machine was shot down. They followed the aircraft down, and saw it crash in the floods, hit a fence and turn over on its nose, partly upside down.
An hour later, after returning to replenish his ammunition, Flight Commander Fall attacked an Albatross two-seater, it was last seen at 500 feet spinning on its back completely out of control. For this action and another victory earlier in November he was subsequently awarded the DSC for the third time (the only Canadian to do so).
Joe Fall was the son of a farmer who was rejected from the army due to a childhood head injury.
On 23 August 1915 he was accepted as a candidate for the Royal Naval Air Service. When Canadian authorities abandoned support for a flying school in Canada, Fall left Canada on 12 November 1915 to be trained in England. By late 1916, he was flying the Sopwith Pup in combat with 3 Naval Squadron. He then joined the Montreal School of Flying, but as it had no aircraft he took a preliminary flying training course at Dayton, Ohio with the Stinson School of flying. He then paid his own passage to England and applied to join the Royal Navy. He was accepted and reported to the Admiralty on November 30th 1915. He was able to deceive the naval medical branch. He later said:
“When they asked me if I had any bodily injuries, I said no. They didn’t ask me anything about head injuries and I didn’t offer anything.”
During the interview Joe mentioned he had already taken some flight training and the Navy put him in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). He spent almost a year in training and finally went to the front in October 1916. He served with various bomber formations before joining 3 Squadron RNAS in February 1917, transferring to 9 Squadron RNAS in September 1917. At this point he has claimed 32 victories.
In a service dominated by Canadians, Wood was unusual in being an Englishman from Bradford. He joined the RNAS in October 1916, joining 9 Squadron RNAS in September 1917. This was his 10th victory.
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